I loaded the Mysticism panel.

Back in his room, Richard locked the door and drew the curtains.

He took out the copper coins and incense burner from the leather bag and placed them side by side on the velvet surface of the bedside table.

The gargoyle crouched in the corner of the desk, its mouth open towards the room, its expression both fierce and artistic.

The stone sculpture had been in his hands for almost two days.

The night he brought the gargoyle back from his grandfather's study, he slept with it in his arms.

The half-circle of seal that my grandfather had unscrewed was like a loosened faucet, with ether flowing out continuously along the crack.

On the first night, the blood pressure reached about 0.4. On the second day, after holding the baby intermittently a few more times, the blood pressure climbed to around 0.7.

I covered myself up again before going out today, and ended up earning a total of about 0.82.

Available points: 1.32

The seepage rate has slowed significantly, and very little ether is left to leak out.

He didn't rush to touch it, but turned his attention to the two new things he had acquired that day.

First, pick up the copper coin, then place your fingertip on the panel and it will jump.

He held the copper coin in his palm, found a comfortable position, and leaned against the headboard to wait.

The points are slowly increasing at a rate of approximately 0.01 per minute.

The copper coin's seal structure is relatively simple, probably a standard commercial seal added by Donald himself to ensure that the artifacts on the shelf would not leak ether during storage.

Commercial seals are far less robust than priestly inscription seals or silver-based engravings like those of Mr. Hutton.

Once removed from the shop's enhanced environment, it's like taking a block of ice from the cold storage and bringing it to room temperature.

It wasn't melting very quickly, but it kept melting.

He switched hands and continued holding it, while trying to recall the wording of Donald's offer.

Copper coins: six pounds; incense burner: seven pounds.

Donna examined the casting patterns and rust on the copper coins for a long time with a magnifying glass, and then turned the incense burner over and over again, tapping it several times.

When my maternal grandfather was evaluating gargoyles in his study, he used a combination of visual inspection and touch, along with his experience in inferring the historical background of the artifacts.

When Mr. Hutton reinforced the seal in the basement, he judged the degree of seal decay by observing the blurring of the silver inscription and the degradation of the wax seal.

Three people, three different scenarios, all using indirect methods.

No one has ever taken out any instrument, scanned it against an etheric field or a magical object, and been able to report precise numbers.

"The ether content here is in units of X."

Appendix C clearly states in its description of ether: it is colorless and odorless, and cannot be detected by any instrument.

Instruments cannot detect it, and human perception is equally vague.

Unless it's like the Zoroastrian pillar in the Donald's back chamber, where the ether deposits are so large that they form an independent ether field around the object, making you feel a tightness in your chest when you get close.

The copper coin grew colder and colder in his palm, and the etheric remnants were rapidly dissipating.

About ten minutes later, the speed suddenly slowed down, and the bottom was almost empty.

Available points: 1.81

He deliberately left a tiny bit of the coin unsucked before placing it on the bedside table.

It is common knowledge that the ether naturally diminishes after a wondrous object is released from its sealed protective environment.

But what if he sucked the copper coin into his bones in one breath, making it as clean as a freshly unearthed stone?

That's not normal.

Leaving a breath inside is like leaving yourself a layer of camouflage.

From the outside, a copper coin is still a copper coin, and a strange object is still a strange object.

Only he knew that it had been squeezed dry, leaving only the dregs.

He kept this principle in mind:

From now on, I will stop absorbing more than 95% of the strange objects I handle, and I will never absorb them completely.

The remaining less than 5% is negligible in terms of points, and keeping it is far more meaningful than taking that extra bite.

Having figured this out, he picked up the incense burner.

Although the incense burner's seepage rate started quickly, it soon slowed down.

As he pointed out at the counter, the lid of this incense burner had been replaced later, and the bottom had also been modified.

A complete original incense burner from a Sufi sanctuary, steeped in centuries of rituals, should contain far more ether than copper coins.

But this repaired incense burner... he had a somewhat pessimistic feeling.

Like the copper coin, he stopped when it was almost empty, failing to suck it into the bones.

Available points: 2.23

The expensive incense burner actually contains less ether.

The incense burner is larger, looks more complete, has a more direct connection to the ritual, and has a more vintage appearance.

The copper coins are small, thin, heavily worn, and made of an alloy containing copper.

All observable external indicators point to the same conclusion: the incense burner should be better.

But ether doesn't look at appearances; it looks at the depth and continuity of the infection.

Richard got out of bed and walked to the sink to turn on the tap.

Pour cold water on your hands and wash away most of the rust and stains left by the copper coins and incense burner.

As he rubbed the carbon buildup between his fingers, his mind was preoccupied with matters concerning his future development.

It's an undeniable fact that cheat codes require a large number of rare items.

As one's need for points increases, the frequency and quantity of acquiring rare items will only rise.

As Vincent mentioned during his casual conversation in the carriage:

After the etheric microcirculation is established, practitioners slowly absorb the ether seeping from the wondrous object to replenish their own consumption through daily meditation and breathing exercises.

It's like a pot of old wine; if someone takes a small sip every day, it can last for half a year.

Once it was in my hands, I opened the bottle and it was empty in just a few minutes.

The problem lies here.

If he followed the normal path, spending money to buy rare items to drain their energy, and then buying new ones, the cost would be ridiculously high.

Moreover, just as he had considered before, having a large number of drained artifacts in his possession would not only attract attention but also be a waste of resources.

The more he thought about it, the clearer his plans for the future became.

If you become an appraiser yourself, or take a step back and start as a middleman/agent.

By helping people appraise, resell, purchase on behalf of others, and sell on behalf of others, each rare item that passes through your hands will stay in your possession for a period of time.

During the dwell time, the panel is working.

You don't need to suck it all out; just remove a portion.

The remaining ether still exists within the artifact; the buyer can use it however they wish without affecting the transaction.

After all, ether is something that cannot be accurately measured or valued, and it would go undetected if a portion of it were taken away, as long as it's not too excessive.

In this way, you can earn a small percentage of points for free from each transaction.

The more you handle, the more points you accumulate.

Buyouts are one-off deals, while intermediaries offer a steady, long-term profit.

Buying out costs your own money, transferring costs someone else's money, and you can still collect a handling fee.

His transit identity also allows him to come into contact with strange objects from various eras, origins, and types of contamination.

This creates a positive cycle with the accumulation of experience in the "Intelligence" category of skills.

The more items one handles, the broader one's knowledge base, and the stronger one's appraisal ability;

The higher the level of the orders you can receive, the better the quality of the rare items you handle, and the more points your panel will extract from them.

Points drive skill upgrades, skill upgrades enhance appraisal capabilities, and appraisal capabilities bring in more high-end orders.

Once the flywheel starts spinning, it will spin faster and faster.

But there's a prerequisite for this path: he must first become a market-recognized intermediary or appraiser.

No one would entrust something valuable to an unknown teenager.